PromQL engine: Delay deletion of __name__ label to the end of the query evaluation
- This change allows optionally preserving the `__name__` label via the `label_replace` and `label_join` functions, and helps prevent the dreaded "vector cannot contain metrics with the same labelset" error.
- The implementation extends the `Series` and `Sample` structs with a boolean flag indicating whether the `__name__` label should be deleted at the end of the query evaluation.
- The `label_replace` and `label_join` functions can still access the value of the `__name__` label, even if it has been previously marked for deletion. If `__name__` is used as target label, it won't be dropped at the end of the query evaluation.
- Fixes https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/issues/11397
- See https://github.com/jcreixell/prometheus/pull/2 for previous discussion, including the decision to create this PR and benchmark it before considering other alternatives (like refactoring `labels.Labels`).
- See https://github.com/jcreixell/prometheus/pull/1 for an alternative implementation using a special label instead of boolean flags.
- Note: a feature flag `promql-delayed-name-removal` has been added as it changes the behavior of some "weird" queries (see https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/issues/11397#issuecomment-1451998792)
Example (this always fails, as `__name__` is being dropped by `count_over_time`):
```
count_over_time({__name__!=""}[1m])
=> Error executing query: vector cannot contain metrics with the same labelset
```
Before:
```
label_replace(count_over_time({__name__!=""}[1m]), "__name__", "count_$1", "__name__", "(.+)")
=> Error executing query: vector cannot contain metrics with the same labelset
```
After:
```
label_replace(count_over_time({__name__!=""}[1m]), "__name__", "count_$1", "__name__", "(.+)")
=>
count_go_gc_cycles_automatic_gc_cycles_total{instance="localhost:9090", job="prometheus"} 1
count_go_gc_cycles_forced_gc_cycles_total{instance="localhost:9090", job="prometheus"} 1
...
```
Signed-off-by: Jorge Creixell <jcreixell@gmail.com>
---------
Signed-off-by: Jorge Creixell <jcreixell@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Björn Rabenstein <github@rabenste.in>
Bryan Boreham